Phony right-wing argument: Religious freedom for me, but not for thee

Tuesday

Apr 29, 2014 at 5:10 PM

In their claim that same-sex marriage is a violation of their rights to religious freedom under the U.S. Constitution, certain elements of the Religious Right resort to blatant hypocrisy: They advocate a denial of the rights of religionists who don’t oppose same-sex marriage.

This inconsistent standard seems not to have occurred to these people.

But it has occurred to Heather Digby Parton, as we see HERE:

[T]hey will not bless sexual relationships they find immoral. And gosh darn it nobody’s going to tell them to shut up about it. And you know what? In all of that they have no greater friends than liberals, and particularly liberal Christians, who also believe that nobody should be forced to have an abortion or be involved in euthanasia or perform gay marriage ceremonies — or use birth control, for that matter. They believe that each person answers to his or her own individual conscience and religious values and the state has no power to mandate otherwise.

But that’s not what religious conservatives really want, is it? It’s not enough that their religion proscribes their participation in these “anti-life acts” and doesn’t allow them to bless gay marriage. Their religion tells them the rest of us, who may have different religious values and philosophical beliefs about these issues, are not allowed to participate in them. Evidently, religious liberty is a one way street — or, more accurately, their way or the highway.

In their claim that same-sex marriage is a violation of their rights to religious freedom under the U.S. Constitution, certain elements of the Religious Right resort to blatant hypocrisy: They advocate a denial of the rights of religionists who don’t oppose same-sex marriage.

This inconsistent standard seems not to have occurred to these people.

But it has occurred to Heather Digby Parton, as we see HERE:

[T]hey will not bless sexual relationships they find immoral. And gosh darn it nobody’s going to tell them to shut up about it. And you know what? In all of that they have no greater friends than liberals, and particularly liberal Christians, who also believe that nobody should be forced to have an abortion or be involved in euthanasia or perform gay marriage ceremonies — or use birth control, for that matter. They believe that each person answers to his or her own individual conscience and religious values and the state has no power to mandate otherwise.

But that’s not what religious conservatives really want, is it? It’s not enough that their religion proscribes their participation in these “anti-life acts” and doesn’t allow them to bless gay marriage. Their religion tells them the rest of us, who may have different religious values and philosophical beliefs about these issues, are not allowed to participate in them. Evidently, religious liberty is a one way street — or, more accurately, their way or the highway.